VICE spoke with SMK about how the organisation has evolved, and their approach to social media.

“VICE is a top-4 general-interest magazine (as nominated by ASME) as well as a website and a YouTube channel,” explains Royce Akers, Australia/New Zealand Editor. “It's also a music label, a film company and an advertising agency. We're in about 24 countries around the world and translated into over a dozen languages. If you think about how companies in the 90s were downsizing and specialising, we're kind of the opposite of that.”

Tone

The VICE approach is pretty rough and ready. An innocent flick through the magazine might find you stumbling across unexpected nudity or other challenging material. In whatever form though, VICE’s content is highly shareable and accordingly, successfully viral.

“We have the luxury of writing about things we're interested in and as a result, we have a straightforward tone. If you already find something weird, funny or fascinating, there's no need to blow smoke up anyone's ass. In terms of what we write about, our stories are the kinds of stories you read and want to talk about afterwards. Which could be anything from an interview with Berlusconi's psychic advisor, to secret North Korean labour camps in Siberia, to finding out how effective pee is at making your teeth white,” says Akers.

Social media

The VICE Australia team use Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Stumble Upon, Pinterest and Flickr. “Really we’re just looking to be where the Australian public are. If there are a decent number of eyeballs and users in particular sites then we want them to see our stuff,” says Josh Gardiner – Content Guy at VICE.

Posting material which portrays an opinion creates great conversation, and often attracts trolls. VICE chooses to let the community self-moderate. “We leave them [trolls] to their own devices, i.e.: wallowing in their own self pity and animosity. Seriously though, you’re on a hiding to nothing in social media when trying to have any constructive public dialogue with those that want to rail against you. Better to let them talk into space. Our more loyal readers will often take them to task on their own anyway.”

Top three social media tips

Gardiner’s top three tips to social media community managers are:

– Only post great content and know your audience
– Give back to your followers
– Don’t overdo it, keep people engaged but don’t suffocate them